How do great crested grebes mate?

The graceful great crested grebe is a familiar sight on our lakes and reservoirs, and is well-known for its elaborate courtship dance, during which it rises vertically out of the water and shakes its head.

Why do great crested grebes dance?

This dance can go on for several minutes at a time before the grebes head off in their own directions. This behaviour itself is a pleasure to watch, but the real show stopper is the weed dance. This is when after a series of calls both birds dive down into the water and resurface carrying weed in their beaks.

Why do the grebes dance together?

Each grebe is looking for a mate to start a family. To find a partner, males and females will dive, then rise up and glide across the water together like dancers. After a few days of this ritual dance called courtship,the part- ners will mate, build a nest, and raise a family of grebe chicks.

What time of year do grebes mate?

spring
Western and Clark’s grebes engage in a maneuver called rushing during the spring mating season, in which they sprint up to 66 feet (20 meters) across the water in coordinated groups of two or more in about seven seconds.

Are great crested grebes monogamous?

Generally, a single breeding season is reported in these birds and like their relative grebes, they also nest along the water edges. Great crested grebes are monogamous.

Do grebes mate for life?

Mating Habits Western grebes are serially monogamous and pairs stay together during one breeding season.

How would you describe the courtship dance?

A courtship dance known since the period of Spanish colonization, it is danced to the rapid, rhythmic music of guitars. The dancing couple pursue and retreat, pass and circle about each other, twirling handkerchiefs as they dance.

What does Grebe look like?

Western Grebes are crisp black and white, with a sharp transition between black and white extending down the neck. The head and most of the face are black, with white below the eye. The bill is yellowish or greenish yellow and the eye is red at close range.

How do grebes mate?

The mating display of the Western Grebe is among the most complicated of all. During the ‘weed dance,’ the male and female both raise their chest gently out of the water and then rub each other with water plants in their long bills.

Are grebes monogamous?

The grebe is seasonally monogamous (muh-NAH-guh-mus), has only one mate each year. Nests are built by both parents on the water so that they float, but often they are attached to plant life. These birds build several other platforms besides the nest which they use for resting, mating, and sunbathing.

What do grebes do?

These beautiful and fascinating birds are a familiar and welcome sight around the 100-mile shoreline of Clear lake. Both local residents and tourists enjoy watching the grebes as they conduct elaborate courtship rituals, construct nests that float on the water, incubate their eggs, and then raise their young.

What is ritual dance?

Ritual Dances combine improvisational movement, music and ritual for a specific, shared purpose. This Ritual allows us to commune in a very ancient way for healing, grieving, expression or celebration with the request of support from the unseen, the Otherworld, our ancestors or deities.